Page 64 of Heir of the Beast

I reach down to the front of his pants and feel around his belt, coming dangerously close to his manhood. I have a dirty mind even when I’m about to die, apparently.

I find the knife and pull it out so fast I make Apollo gasp in fear. His dark eyes meet mine, only inches away.

“Be a little more careful,” he struggles to get a better grip, “around that area, would you? If I pass out, we are both dead.”

I try not to smile and start ripping away at my skirts with one hand, stabbing myself in the process. “Mother f—”

Apollo rips the knife out of my hand and cuts a few strings in back, and my skirts fall, the weight sliding right off my legs as Apollo holds me up. I’m left with my tattered black lace slip and my thin underwear.

My heart is still beating erratically. Of course Apollo is good at removing women’s clothing. I guess now is not the time to be a prude.

I hear him groan in relief at the release of weight. He uses the rock wall to help him climb up, little by little. “You never said where you acquired your dress,” he whispers in my ear.

My arms are wrapped tightly around his neck, pressed to him as close as one can get. I still can’t believe he just dove off a cliff to save me. “I will have to kill you if I tell.”

Hey. That’s a classic one-liner.

No judging—he has never heard it before.

He chuckles, and I can feel his hot breath on me. “You claim to be Princess Ursula? That is quite the claim,” he grunts as he pulls us up and up.

“Yes.”

“That changes everything.”

I glance at him. “You’re not throwing me in the dungeon?”

“No.”

“Where then?”

“My bedroom.”

Chapter 15

This is my Cinderella moment.

I am the lost daughter of Galleon.

It didn’t take them long to do blood work and to prove that I have the royal blood of the King, my~ father~.

I wonder if I would have saved myself a lot of pain if I had brought it up in the beginning. Maybe, and maybe not.

I am feeling a little numb now.

You must understand that I have never had a family before, being an orphan and all. So meeting the King was a lot to take in emotionally. I get that he is not my birth father, but this experience is very real to me.

He cried, tears of joy in his hazel eyes as they searched my face and kissed me. Saying I look just like my mother, that I have her beautiful soul and eyes. He made my heart clench.

I have never had someone look at me that way before, and it makes me yearn for more. Is this what it’s like to have a loving parent?

King Alistair Zorne Lowthe of Galleon is my father.

And Laura is my ~evil~ stepsister.

I smile.~ How do you like them apples?~

Mort has informed me that Irena is furious, and I’m sure Laura is no different. I am on an equal playing field now. But Queen Irena does not know I’m aware of her affair, and it needs to stay that way.

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